The Marauders and the Forbidden Forest
by Ice Jazz Elleth
Summary: It's never good to make enemies and this is something that James, Sirius, Remus and Peter will have to learn. Pranks and jokes may be fun but sometimes there can be a price to pay. Even if you don't know what the cost will be.
1. Where all Roads Lead

**So this is my first Harry Potter fanfic and as such, I believe it would be good for me to give an overview. I plan on writing 7 stories in total, one for each year of the Marauders in school. The first four stories will have a plot that resolves around each of the Marauders and in this one, it is Peter. These fics should be able to read if you haven't read/watched Harry Potter. So, now I give you the blurb!**

**This is the first installment of the First Book of The Marauders. When four boys go to Hogwarts (a school for wizards and witches) an alliance is formed and they become fast friends as they perform pranks and make the best use of their year at school. But things won't be so easy for these four and the Forbidden Forest looms on the horizon of their journey.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Where All Roads Lead**

Peter was bouncing up and down in excitement as he kept a tight grasp on his Hogwarts letter and the instructions. He was not going to risk missing anything from this school and he had arrived twenty minutes early at the station.

Remus was nervous about starting school and he ended up twelve minutes early, keeping close to his father as he stood on the station, looking around at the mass of other students. He had his luggage close to him but made no movement towards the train.

James and Sirius were both just on time, arriving between two and one minutes before the train actually left, hurrying towards the it and leaping on just in time, one appearing through the gate just as the other hopped on. They had met up there and taken an almost empty compartment.

As the train started forwards, Peter stumbled. Despite arriving early, he had been unable to get a compartment. The first one he had gotten into had been empty until some Ravenclaw Sixth Years had arrived and said the carriage belonged to them. With much apologies, Peter scuttled out, dragging his suitcase with him. After about five minutes he found another carriage with three Slytherin second years who had glanced at him as he took a step inside before he found himself flung backwards and on top of his suitcase. Wiping his eyes, Peter continued on and managed to sit with a bunch of other first years. Now that the train was on its way, Peter's eyes lit up with excitement and he started speaking to the others.

"I can't wait. I wonder which house I will be sorted into. Do any of you have any idea where you will be sorted?" He asked.

"I think I will be in Hufflepuff but I want to be in Gryffindor." Said one of the girls.

"I'm going to be in Ravenclaw, both my parents belong in there." A boy said proudly.

"There's houses? I knew I should have read all the information." Another said, panicking.

"Well, there's three houses," Peter started.

"Four," Interrupted one of the others said.

"Right, four. And they are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin and... and..."

"Ravenclaw." Said the boy who had spoke about wanting to be in Ravenclaw.

"Ravenclaw. And then there's this hat, the Sorting Hat, which puts you into one of the houses." Peter finished, looking proud of himself.

James and Sirius had so far managed to have a healthy conversation without bringing up houses. They had tried to have a conversation with the girl in their compartment but she seemed to be worried about school or something and so they had left her alone. There was an obvious silent wall between them.

"I can't wait to study Defence Against the Dark Arts. I've read the whole text book for it. Or atleast the interesting parts." James said, eagerly talking to Sirius.

"I want to have a go at Muggle Studies but we don't get to study that until Third Year." Sirius replied, with a grin.

"It would be interesting to find out more about Muggles, how they cope without magic." James replied with a nod before his face suddenly lit up. "Wait, I've forgotten about charms! Of course that will be lots of fun as well. I think it would be useful for playing pranks-" James' voice trailed off and he looked towards the girl in the carriage who was staring out the window before nervously flickering towards Sirius to see his response.

"Pranks, great! I was worried I might be the only one." Sirius sighed in relief.

"Glad you agree. Want to partner up for pranking?" James asked, leaning forwards in earnest interest and turning his body slightly to make sure that the only other student in the compartment would be excluded. He didn't want anyone else knowing about his interest before he had even got started. Keeping the detentions off his back would not be easy if she was a tell tale twits and informed the teachers of his hobby. Although he couldn't help but notice her beauty. Her hair was quiet striking. That was probably it. Red hair was rare and that must have been what had caught his attention.

Remus had been unable to get a compartment. He was too nervous to enter one as they all had someone inside it. The emptiest one, he recalled, had a single boy in it who looked like first year and after the train had started moving, Remus decided to go back to see if he could sit with the other boy. As he reached the carriage, he looked through all the compartments and saw that all of them were full with no sign of the slightly podgey student he had seen earlier and he gave a sigh. Well, he would have to continue looking or else he would remain in the corridor for the whole trip.

Walking onwards, Remus went through three more carriages until he suddenly found the boy he had seen earlier. Or more accurately, the boy had found him, for it the slightly podgey first year and his luggage that was shoved out of the compartment he was in and ended up in a heap just in front of Remus.

"Are you OK?" Remus asked, taking a step back and helping the boy up.

"I... don't think they like me." The boy said as he took Remus' hand and stood up in the train. A frown appeared on Remus' face as he looked inside at the compartment of First Years.

"Really. Do you know why?" He asked, unsure why first years would throw out a fellow student in the same, or at least a similar, situation to themselves.

"I think I said something wrong. I started a conversation about the houses and then they asked me what house I wanted to be in and I said I didn't know and that they all sounded to be good."

"I think the houses are all fairly competitive." Remus said, glancing back inside and noticing another student looking nervously around at the others.

"I also then said I thought I might need help with any homework that we got." he added and Remus gave an understanding nod.

"It's probably too early to talk about homework. They're probably stressed. If it helps, I can try and help you with homework although I'm not sure how good I will be," Remus replied, having already read all the books to try and get on top of everything. "My name's Remus Lupin, by the way." He introduced himself.

"I'm Peter, Peter Pettigrew."

Much more searching had not lead Remus and Peter to find a compartment to sit in and Remus noticed that Peter seemed to be feeling down due to their lack of success.

"Come on Peter, it'll be fine. I'm sure we'll find a place soon." Remus encouraged the boy, looking into another compartment. It was full and Peter collapsed on his trunk and closed his eyes.

"You should go on without me." He said, sounding absolutely dejected.

"Peter, we'll find somewhere."

"But I've stopped us getting anywhere!" Peter protested.

"It's not you. They're mostly older than us, we probably seem to be annoying younger years."

"But I got us chucked out of that last one"

"No you didn't. They never said that they would let us sit with them, you'd just gone in before they had decided whether they were willing to take on two extra people. Besides, it was already full."

"Are you two looking for somewhere to sit?" Peter's eyes opened at the sound of another voice and he looked towards the boy who had spoken. The other boy was the same age and had just left the toilets, appearing to have just gotten changed into his robes. The boy had messy dark hair and glasses.

"That would be welcome, yes." Remus said after a long pause and the other boy gave a cheerful nod.

"Right, follow me. You're lucky I came along. I think everywhere's full apart from our compartment." He said

"What's keeping you, James?" A head poke out from a compartment, a boy with shoulder length black hair and sparkling mischievous eyes had been the source of the voice.

"I found some other first years who are lacking a place to stay until we get to Hogwarts. You don't mind that I invited them in?" James asked.

"No problem. The more the merrier, hey?" Sirius said, pushing open the door and moving to help bring in the luggage. The carriage was almost empty apart from a red-headed girl who's face seemed to be pressed against the window as she stared out at the changing scenery.

"What were you names, again?" James asked, making full use of the extra space by spreading out.

"I'm Remus and this is Peter."

"Cool. I'm James and he's Sirius. We've only just met on this journey but we're definitely going to be in the same house. No way anything is separating us."

"How do you know that?" Asked Peter, looking between the two.

"He means that we don't want to be split up. Not that we definitely will be." Sirius explained, opening a pack of Bertie's Box Every Flavoured Beans and offering them around.

"Thanks!" James said taking a large handful.

"Hey, don't take all of them!" Sirius replied but he handed the box around and Peter and Remus took a small handful which grew as Sirius threw more into their hands. The girl in the compartment ignored them even when Sirius offered her some of the sweets and he shrugged, turning back to the other boys.

"I got given a load of money to get anything I wanted while in Diagon Alley." Sirius grinned, throwing beans into his mouth and barely chewing before swallowing them. The already less than half full box quickly depleted as Sirius scoffed the food.

"It's not poisoned you know." Sirius said. The only other person who had started eating was James who took it at a slower speed but his pile soon disappeared. Remus started eating a few which encourages Peter to start eating as well.

"Yuck." Peter said after a few seconds.

"What flavour did you get?" Sirius asked, leaning forwards and looking at Peter.

"It tasted like used and very old shoes." Peter said, taking another one as he tried to get the dreadful taste out of his mouth. Remus looked more nervous about eating the rest of his pile.

"Bad luck. They aren't all too bad though." Sirius said before giving a shudder. "Boggies. I swear I attract those ones. I've had over three of them in my lifetime."

"Because your lifetime has really been so long that you can talk about it like that." James said with a laugh.

"Yep, I'm ancient."

"Totally believe you."

"Anyone know when the trolley comes along?" Remus interrupted, still holding about ten beans in his hand. No one noticed at this point a boy coming in and moving to sit next to the only female occupant.

"In a few hours, Re..." Sirius said, holding on the 'e' and tapping his fingers against his legs. "...mus." He finished, remembering the name.

"Oh, right." Remus replied, having heard quiet a bit about the trolley and the sweets on his journey through the carriages.

"Yeah, it is something, if I've heart correctly." Sirius said, seeing the expression on Remus' face.

"Is it lunch stuff?" Peter asked, having finished his beans,

"Light stuff and a lot of sweets." Sirius replied quickly. "Although I've got a lot of sweets on me anyway. Prices on the trolley is less than other places but you never can guarantee that you'll get what you want." Sirius said,

"How do you know all this stuff?" Questioned Peter.

"Family all have gone to Hogwarts. It's a big tradition." Sirius replied, looking darker.

"Where you hoping for something in particular?" James asked, looking towards Remus, whose face redened slightly.

"Chocolate," He said after a pause. "Its really good stuff, you know. Great for people after they've encountered dementors as it helps cheers you up. But as such it can be used at any time to create the same effects."

"Are you not happy?" Sirius asked.

"Nervous, really. And I think I may have developed a soft spot for chocolate."

"Not a bad thing to have a soft spot for, in my opinion." Sirius said, getting up and looking through his bag. "Hm... no chocolate on me, I'm afraid. Ate the last chocolate frog about an hour ago."

"No worries. If I can't get any chocolate on the trolley then there will always be the feast." Remus shrugged.

"I wonder what there will be at the feast. Bet there's loads and loads of food." Peter said.

"Obviously, it's a feast." James replied, rolling his eyes.

"There's something for everyone, if I've been told correctly. No one goes hungry, even the fussy kids. Although my parents think that the fussy children should learn to eat what they're given." Sirius said with a frown. Suddenly James' head turned as he caught a word said by the two other occupants.

"Slytherin?" He repeated, looking at the greasy haired boy. Suddenly the compartment was a lot quieter. Sirius became more withdrawn, Remus looked down at the beans in his hand and Peter fingers twitched, nervously. It was only then that everyone of the students became aware of how rowdy the four boys had been.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Sirius looked up at James' question and the usual smile that had been plastered on his face did not return.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," Sirius replied and Peter's fingers stopped moving for a second. Luckily the tension was broken by James.

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!" At this the four boys relaxed, Peter's body slumped somewhat, Remus grew a small smile and Sirius openly grinned. The greasy haired boy seemed annoyed and the red-head impartial.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." As James lifted an invisible sword, Peter ducked and James grinned and he pretended to knight Peter before a small sound distracted him. The sound had come from the fifth boy in the carriage.

"Got a problem with that?" James turned to look at the boy and once again the tension built up. Remus who had enjoyed the lightening of the mood bit his lip and Sirius seemed to freeze as if sensing a possible threat.

"No, If you'd rather be brawny than brainy –" But the boy had barely got to speak in his sneer-like tone before he was interrupted.

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius had not relaxed his body but his voice suggested otherwise and Peter thought that it looked slightly intimidating. James on the other hand seemed to find a lot of amusement in that as laughter erupted from him and after a few seconds, Peter joined in. Remus didn't say anything but looked away.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." This time it was the girl how spoke and she got up and the other boy followed her.

"Oooooo…" James and Sirius said at the same time, making the most of the situation as they impersonated the girl. As they walked past, James put out his foot and almost tripped the boy.

"See ya, Snivellus!" It was Peter's voice that called out just as the door closed and James and Sirius stared at Peter.

"That's brilliant!" James declared and Peter looked very proud of himself.

"Might have to keep it if we see him again." Sirius smiled and Remus opened his mouth about to say something but he stopped and contented himself with listening to their conversation.

"We won't see him again, will we. I don't think he was very nice." Peter said.

"No, he doesn't take good care of his hair." Sirius said and James nodded.

"That's definitely how you judge people. By their hair."

"I thought it was shoes..." Peter muttered.

"Why would shoes show what you're like?" James questioned.

"Why would hair?" Remus finally rejoined the conversation, aware the cheerful tone of the group was still somewhat lacking after the encounter.

"You know what, I don't know." James laughed but as it died down a small rumble sounded and everyone looked towards Peter.

"I think I'm a bit hungry. I would have usually had a sandwich by now." Peter explained, looking slightly embarrassed and Remus handed him the rest of his beans.

"Don't you like them?" Sirius asked as he noted this exchange while Peter's face lit up with delight, despite his early encounter with a shoe flavoured one.

"I'd rather not risk my lucky streak of nice tasting ones." Remus said with a small nervous smile and James gave a loud laugh.

"Probably the wisest thing anyone has ever decided when it comes to those beans." Almost as soon as James had finished speaking there came a chocking sound from Peter who looked fairly pale as he took out one of the beans he had been eating.

"What flavour did you get this time?" Sirius asked curiously.

"I'd rather not say." Peter said, turning greener just at the thought of talking about it.

"My brother got one of those." Sirius shrugged.

"You mean that's an actual flavour?" Peter asked, looking confused.

"Nah, just that it does happen and people do get dreadful ones."

"Oh. Well, I guess Remus was correct to stop eating them."

"Great self control. Wish I could do that," James said looking towards the tiny remains of the box which rested in Peter's hand.

"You're not going to eat those, are you?" He questioned and as the boy shook his head, James dived in and took one while Sirius took advantage of the offer and took two, eating them both at the same time.

"Chocolate and fudge. My luck has finally caught up with me!" Sirius declared, his face beaming at having got two such good flavours.

"This time I got the boggies." James said with a sigh and Sirius laughed.

"You've stolen my boggie streak, hopefully. It gets annoying after a while."

"How often do you get the same flavour?"

"The only one I've had repeats of is boggie. You?"

"I've had two banana ones."

"That's not too bad."

"I suppose I am lucky about that," James ran a hand through his hair at that thought then looked at Peter and Remus who were still in casual clothing

"You two should probably get changed. It's good to get a feel of the uniform." He suggested.

"Put in the creases and such. I hate stiff clothing." Sirius added.

"Same! And it has to be loose as well for easy movement." James replied.

"But not long and loose which leads it to making too much noise."

"Are you two sure you aren't twins?" Remus' words were casual this time as he went to get his uniform but they were still quiet.

"Maybe we are. Wouldn't that be so awesome! I've always wanted a brother." James said, looking delighted at the idea.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to be part of my family." Sirius muttered.

"Well, you can be part of mine then." James said decisively and Remus slipped out of the compartment to get changed in the toilets while Peter looked between the two other boys.

"You don't look like twins." He said slowly.

"Hey, don't spoil my dreams!" James protested.

"You've only had your dreams for about two seconds!" Sirius laughed and Peter joined in, semingly nervous but wanting to be included. He was uncomfortable without Remus being there. Already the boy had found the presence of Remus reassuring and Peter didn't like being alone with these two strangers.

"That doesn't mean that they aren't my biggest and most important dreams!" James laughed, looking completely at ease as he threw himself back on the seat and looked up at the roof.

"If we end up in different houses we've got to promise to meet up, Sirius." James said, his voice taking a turn for the serious just as Remus entered, now dressed in his school robes.

"Sounds like an idea." Sirius said, just at the same time that Peter offered a greeting to Remus.

"Do you have an older sibling?" James asked, looking upside down at Remus as soon as Peter had spoken.

"No, why?" Remus asked, looking confused before relisation spread across his face. "Oh, these a second hand. My family isn't too wealthy." Sirius gave a frown as he looked at his own.

"I've always told Mother that we should give our old robes to shops but she refuses. They don't even look worn when she throws them out." No one could miss the displeasure in Sirius' voice.

"Don't get on very well with your mother?" James asked.

"That would be an understatement," Sirius chuckled. "We've never seen eye to eye."

"Families don't often do. And we don't have to worry about it because we're going to be spending all our time at school." Peter said, trying to be helpful.

"Families get on better with each other than mine." Sirius said.

"I'm going to try and go home as often as possible." James muttered and Peter looked around nervously until his desperate gaze fell upon Remus.

"What I think Peter is trying to say is that all families have problems on occasions and if it is too much of a problem, we can always be thankful that Hogwarts will keep us until the summer holidays." Remus said, trying to help Peter out and the boy nodded his head vigorously at Remus words and the others gave a shrug.

"Anything from the trolley?" Came a voice, breaking the silence that had descended on them and Sirius lept up.

"Still got any chocolate frogs?" He asked, striding over to her.

"I've got five left."

"Right, I'll have all of them and a box of Every Flavoured beans, still got those, right? Good. And four pumpkin pasties... wait, make that six. And four plates if you have any." Sirius said, giving the witch a brilliant smile as he gave her his order and she hurriedly set about getting everything out. Sirius handed over the money, still smiling and took the items.

"Thank you." He said, handing the plates out and tossing the pumpkin pasties to everyone along with a chocolate frog each, the fifth one going to Remus who's ears turned red at being the only one to have two chocolate frogs.

"We'll make a start on the beans later?" Sirius suggested, placing the box besides him.

"You got all this for us?" Peter squeaked, his voice trembling with disbelief and delight as he looked at the pile of food in front of him.

"I'm not sure if I can pay you back-" Remus said, moving to look in his pockets for some money when Sirius placed his hand on Remus' arm.

"I've brought everything for everyone and its all on me. It's no skin off my back."

"Then you should have this chocolate frog." Remus said, offering Sirius one of the frogs but Sirius simply held his hands up.

"I've had plenty, I got that one for you. Enjoy." With that, Sirius took a healthy bite from his pastie and Remus gave in to defeat, joining the three other boys in their feast.

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**Hope you enjoyed!**

**Leave your thoughts in a comment/review!**


	2. Mad as a Hatter

**Chapter Two - Mad as a Hatter**

The rest of the train ride had been uneventful although there was a slight curious incident when they got to the boats. James, Sirius and Peter all hopped on one but Remus stayed on the ground.

"Aren't you coming, Remus?" James had asked, looking completely at ease in the boat.

"Master Lupin is not taking the boats," Came a voice and the three boys looked up to see a witch in green with spectacles.

"But everyone goes in the boats!" Sirius protested, confusion causing his voice to waver.

"Other transport arranged for him. You have no need to ask any questions, Master Black." The witch said, moving the boy off who had offered a small smile and wave as he disappeared into the darkness.

"I wonder why he's got out of the boat ride." Peter said as they moved off with a girl sitting at the edge, looking slightly unhappy to be separated from her four other friends.

"Maybe he wasn't feeling too well. He is rather pale." Sirius shrugged.

"Not enough chocolate. Did you notice how it perked him up?" James asked.

"Well, chocolate is magical." Sirius laughed and the tension dropped, the boys only realising it had been there after it was released.

"Is that the school!" Peter interrupted, staring ahead and Sirius turned rapidly, causing the boat to shake and the girl grabbed hold as it seemed the boat would capsize.

"Yep! That's Hogwarts. Nice castle sized school." He said.

"It actually is a castle, isn't it?" James asked.

"Keep us safe from any attacking marauders, hey?" Sirius chuckled. "Because there are so many of those around." James laughed as well and the boat started to rock again. They lucky reached the school without anyone receiving a dunking although James had threatened Sirius with one. When they reached the school they were lead to the green clad witch.

"Hello," Came a soft voice behind the three and they jumped as they realised that Remus was behind them.

"Where were you?"

"Why did you have to go on without us?"

"Why didn't you take the boats?"

All these questions were asked at once and Remus held up his hands in a silent surrender and pointed to the witch who was looking at the four, her stern gaze sweeping over her spectacles.

"As I was saying, I am Professor McGonagall and I am the Transfiguration teacher and I have just become Head of Gryffindor. It is my honour to welcome you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In a few minutes you will be taken into the Great Hall where you shall be sorted into the four houses; Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin." She said and the group of students managed to remain silent for this.

"Now wait here quietly while I go to see if the school is ready." She said.

Of course, as soon as she had gone threw the doors, everyone broke into chatter and Remus was once again asked many questions about his disappearance.

"I don't do too well on boats, they make me easily sick so my parents arranged for me to come with a teacher." He replied and nothing else was said on the matter because at this point Professor McGonagall returned and ordered silence as the talk had grown too loud. Then they were lead inside and the chatter that had existed on the other side of the door died down. Peter pressed himself against Remus as the older students regarded them. The boy felt like they were looking at them as if they were fresh meat and Remus thoughtfully maneuvered himself so Peter was on the inside and Remus was on the outside. James and Sirius seemed to be basking in the limelight as they eagerly pushed forwards until they were leading the group, heads held high. As they were called to a stop the boys stood, straight backed and a lot more confident than the others around them.

"Another year comes as another shall go,  
And again a group of students arrive,  
Sorting each of you is the task I know,  
An evening where many shall strive.

But before you all get to try me on,  
Let us recap on the houses there are,  
The beacon of knowledge will have shown,  
Upon those of who have traveled so far.

First we have the house of Ravenclaw,  
The wise seek refuge in shades of blue,  
But don't forget red Gryffindor,  
A house of great men and brave too.

And then we have warm Hufflepuff,  
A gentle yellow of a friendly house,  
Yet emerald Slytherin don't have enough  
For none of these ambitious men are a mouse.

So come to me and find your home,  
It won't take long before you are there,  
For soon your house shall be known,  
And then in feast you shall share."

Many of the first years jumped as the voice suddenly spoke out in rhyme and eyes fell upon the hat that had spoken these words. James and Sirius took a step forward but the look of Professor McGonagall sent them back to their place among the other students.

"When I call your name you shall come forward and place the hat on your head," She announced and tension seemed to seep into the room as people waited to see where the students would be sorted and indeed to see if they recognised any of the names.

"Abercroft, Luke." A small boy moved forwards, with fox like eyes and a pointed face and he slipped onto the seat. He sat confidentially on the chair, but when the hat was placed upon his head, he tensed and the new students watched with baited breath for a total of thirty seven seconds before the hat shouted out:

"SLYTHERIN!"

At this a loud greeting cheer came from the table decorated in green and silvers and the boy strode over to take a seat with them.

"Abbey, Tina." This time the hat had been barely placed on the girl's head before it announced Hufflepuff and she meekly disappeared off to the yellow table. Next was another Hufflepuff and then a Ravenclaw followed by three Slytherins. James looked worried, glancing at the table under the red and golden banners. No one had been sorted into Gryffindor yet and for the first time he wondered whether it was very difficult to get into. Sirius could feel his stomach start to twist. So far the majority had gone over to Slytherin and he did not want to end up in that house.

"Black, Sirius." McGonagall called and the cheering died down for the last student.

"Wish me luck." Sirius whispered to James as he strode forward, ignoring the gaze that followed him. A lot of the people watching seemed as if they had already decided which house the hat would shout and where simply waiting for confirmation.

"Hello Mr Hat." Sirius muttered as he sat down and the hat was placed upon his head.

_"Ah, another Black." _The voice rang out in his mind and Sirius raised his brows marginally, not giving a reply. He was going to accept what the hat gave him but if it said Slytherin then it was definitely wrong.

_"I know what you are thinking, young Black-" _

_"Great, then go ahead and put me in some house other than Slytherin because if you do put me there you're totally wrong. Especially as I assume you would be sending me off there because of my family which is just biased and proves that you don't really care about sorting us but just our pedigree." _ Sirius replied calmly in his mind, although his lips might have moved for some of the words as he gazed lazily out across the ground, eyes resting on James.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted this out loud and Sirius blinked.

_"Hey, wait I had more to say... wait, Gryffindor fantastic!" _But the hat was already off his head before he could finish and Sirius walked away, smugly towards the slightly bemused but cheering table. It had taken a grand total of twenty four his seat, Sirius looked at the second years next to him who offered a smile before he turned to look at the next student. Everyone still was staring at Sirius, though. The first person to be sorted into Gryffindor... a Black? It certainly made the day seem a lot more interesting and ever so more stranger.

Around fifty more students were sorted, seventeen went to Hufflepuff, eight to Ravenclaw (including the boy that Peter had spoken to with parents that belonged in said house), twelve to Slytherin (the girl who had thought she would end up in Hufflepuff was sorted here) and thirteen to Gyrffindor. James remained at the front, getting impatient while Peter kept close to Remus. It was fine with Remus, even though he was used to his own space and he was willing to give the boy as much companionship as he needed.

"Lupin, Remus." McGonagall called and Remus had to leave Peter's side and Remus noticed how Peter's face grew terrified at being left on his own.

"Try to stand next to James." Remus advised quietly as he walked forwards. Was it just his imagination or did the teachers look more interested? Shrugging this off, he delicately hopped onto the seat and took a deep breath as the hat was placed on his head and he felt glad that it did not fall over his eyes.

_"Hello Master Lupin." _ The voice echoed in his head and Remus' hands clenched the edge of the seat. He didn't like the idea of anything being inside his mind and thoughts and his immediate response was to try and protect his mind. He started doing maths. _1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34-_

_"Clever - and brave to try and get me out of your head, young one. Don't worry, what's in your here stays with me."_

_"I'd rather not have anyone look into my mind, if that's all the same to you. It is fairly invasive." _ Remus replied calmly to the hat, although he stopped his mental maths.

_"I only need to know enough to sort you and that is your personality not your memories. No need to get defensive."_

"GRYFFINDOR!" Remus blinked at that and slide off the seat, head down as he hurriedly made his way over to the table he was assigned to, barely aware of all the cheering that they were giving him. His sorting had been just over thirty five seconds.

"Remus! Over here, Remus!" He had almost missed Sirius' shouts and would have walked straight past him if it hadn't been for Sirius leaning over the table and grabbing his robes.

"Sit next to me!" He suggested, grinning, despite the fact that the seat next to him was taken. There was a free one opposite him, which had Sirius' feet on them.

"Saving it for James." He explained, turning to look at the girl besides him. The girl had red hair and Sirius had recognised her as the girl that had been in their apartment. He had tried to be friendly but she sat facing the other way.

"Budge up, please?" He said, giving a smile.

"But I'd have to disturb the others." She said, coldly although she looked tempted at the idea of moving.

"They won't mind, will you?" Sirius asked, looking down at the others as the teachers tried to shush him. The other students all did move along, though and Remus got his place next to Sirius.

"If Peter joins us, can you do that for him?" Remus asked, noting how the boy was now next to James who looked a bit fed up with the waiting.

"Why? He doesn't seem much fun and look at how he's so nervous. Do you think he would fit in where the brave hearts dwell?" Muttered Sirius as a cry went up from Ravenclaw's table.

"He's just shy. Not everyone can be as confident with a new school. And I only asked 'if he joins'." Remus replied calmly and Sirius paused before giving a nod. Twenty three more students were sorted and still James and Peter had not moved. Peter was getting more nervous while James was getting more impatient.

"Pettigrew, Peter." The call came and Peter glanced nervously towards James and then towards the Gryffindor table where Remus sat next to Sirius. Did the two boys lean forwards? Peter thought he saw Remus give a encouraging smile and the simple belief of that gave the boy confidence as he walked up towards the front and sat down, giving one last look around the hall before the hat ended up on his head.

_"Peter Pettigrew," _The hat said, its voice sounding slow and musing.

_"That's me!"_ Peter thought, nervously before biting his lip. Everyone else had managed it and came away looking happy. That would happen to him as well. He couldn't be the only one to go away unhappy, could he? The hat would choose right.

_"Hm... you are a difficult one, aren't you." _The hat spoke and this gave Peter reason to be concerened. So far no sorting had taken longer than a minute.

_"But there is a house for me. There's a house for everyone. We all get sorted and no one is left out. I'm sure it said that somewhere." _

_"I will sort you, don't fret young Pettigrew. I may just have to take my time with you."_

_"I think that was a rhyme. Do you do that often?" _Peter was now beginning to feel braver, this was just a hat, after all. Everyone had put it on. Everything was going to be alright. And it was possible that the hat liked rhyming. Peter liked rhymes.

_"I make up a verse each year for each new group of students but this is about you, not me."_

_"Right, me." _There was silence then for a good thirty five seconds and Peter was about to ask the hat if something was wrong when it spoke out.

"GRYFFINDOR!" His sorting was the longest, taking over a minute but the next sorting was quick. It was James Potter's turn and the hat didn't even speak before it announced Gryffindor in a booming voice. James got his spot opposite Sirius and they gave each other thumbs up. Remus sat quietly next to Sirius and true to his word, Sirius managed to get the other students to move up so that Peter was sitting next to James. About twenty more students were sorted before Dumbledore addressed them.

"Welcome to our new students, I hope that you will all enjoy yourselves at Hogwarts but first there are a few things that you should know and even the older students should refresh themselves on this. The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds as are corridors after dark. There shall also be no spell casting in the corridors. It is important for all students to be aware that a Whomping Willow has been planted in the school grounds and it should be remembered that caution should be exercised around this tree. We do not want any broken limbs or worse. On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Art's teacher, Professor McTaggart." At this a young man (he couldn't be much more than a student himself) with black hair stood up. He wore a white shirt and black trousers which would have shown him to be very plain in dress sense if it wasn't for his multicolored patchwork waistcoat. He gave a bright smile at the students although the only clapping that seemed interested were the new students.

"Well, I shall not keep you from your excellent feast for any longer," Dumbledore said as the clapping died away and suddenly food and drink appeared around the students. Peter's face lit up and he helped himself to everything. Sirius was not far behind Peter and soon their plates were loaded. James seemed to be tossing up between what he should eat, saying he was thinking about what would go together while Remus had helped himself to a small portion of a roast.

"Is that all you're eating?" Sirius asked as he attacked a large chicken leg.

"I can always help myself to more," Remus said, using his cutlery to cut up a golden roast potato while Sirius simply held the leg in his hand and eagerly bit into it.

"Beautiful display, by the way." Remus told Sirius who caught on and placed the meat down and picked up his napkin and wiped his hands and mouth.

"Sorry, I usually have to eat so carefully at home it's a relief to be able to just go all out on food. But I haven't mastered the skill like Peter has." Sirius gestured over to the other boy who had managed to eat his leg in very little time and incredibly neatly considering he had used his hands.

"Takes some practice," Peter said, looking up from his meal and showing that he had not been so engrossed in his diner that he had not been paying attention to the conversation around them.

"How do you manage to eat that much?" James said, looking over at Sirius and Peter's overladen plate. James had finally decided to copy Remus and to go with the Roast selection only James' plate contained more food.

"Ah, my stomach is a bottomless pit that can never be filled. What I want to know how Remus can live on such little." Sirius said, picking up a bread roll and ripping it apart in his fingers, eating the crust before rolling the dough into a ball and popping that in his mouth.

"Because if I'm still hungry, I can come back for more. It's not like all the food will be gone." Remus repeated, having finished off the meager portions he had helped himself to. Now, the boy was taking another portion of food and Sirius watched curiously before shrugging.

"If it suits you that way." He replied before noting that Remus had managed to find a platter of pasta.

"I don't have pasta! Where is it?" Sirius protested, glancing rapidly around and James burst into laughter causing a few people to look in their direction.

"It's under your nose, Sirius." He finally managed to chuckle out and in surprise, Sirius looked down to see the Italian food right before him.

"Right, I definitely knew that." Sirius replied as he took three spoonfuls and placed it among the other various food items he had already collected.

"You do know we still have pudding to get through?" James checked as he eyed the pile before Sirius.

"Yep! I wonder what they will have." Sirius said, thankfully using a fork to get the pasta into his mouth.

"It will be wonderful, I'm sure." Came a voice and the four boys looked up to see a ghost hovering above the table. Peter almost fell off his chair in shock.

"Evening," Sirius said pleasantly. "Not sure if this is the best place for you to get something to eat but we can raise you a toast."

"Sirius, I don't think ghosts need toasts." James said.

"I was only being polite." Sirius replied and the ghost didn't seem to have any chance to speak as the conversation between the boys moved back and forth.

"Couldn't it be insulting though? I mean, he can't give toasts any more. Not with physical things."

"I think its more insulting that you brought that up."

"Only because of you. Wait, is it insulting that we haven't asked him his name?"

"Impolite, maybe," Sirius said, leaning back to look at the ghost who had his mouth still open as he tried to answer Sirius' earlier question.

"What's your name?" The boy asked and the others all looked up at the ghost who remained silent until it became obvious that he was not going to be constantly interrupted.

"I am-"

"Nearly Headless Nick!" Sirius suddenly said, stopping the ghost in his tracks who looked affronted that he still had not managed to get out much of a sentence since starting to talk to these boys.

"The Ghost of Gryffindor house, right?" James said, leaning forwards.

"Of course, James." Sirius replied again stopping the ghost from talking.

"Well, if you're not going to let me even finish a sentence then I shall move on." Nearly Headless Nick said, floating on.

"Bye Nick!" James and Sirius said, laughing together and Peter's face gained some more colour.

"Shouldn't you have been politer to him?" Remus asked, chasing a lone piece of pasta around his plate.

"Nah, he'll be fine. We'll make it up to him later." Sirius said, casting a glance towards the ghost who was now showing some other students why he was 'nearly headless'.

"We're hyped up on food." James said with a grin as he shoved some roast pork into his mouth.

"If this is you hyped on food, I'd hate to see what happens after pudding." Remus said, sending James and Sirius into bursts of laughter.

"I don't get hyper on sugar." Peter said proudly, having finished all the food on his plate and moving on to get some more.

"Hey, how did you finish so quickly?" Sirius asked, quickly shoving food into his mouth. Sirius had eaten only just over half of his.

"I don't talk while I'm eating." Peter replied, tucking into his new pile of food.

"Quickly, James, distract him with talk while I eat!" Sirius said, scoffing food down as quickly as possible. James' mouth opened and closed as he tried to think of something to say as he had just been put on the spot.

"This isn't a competition, you know." Remus told them but he got no reply from either Peter or Sirius who were scoffing food as if there was no tomorrow. Even the people around them seemed to be looking disgusted at the show. James gave a laugh after a while of watching this.

"Better not eat so much that you end up exploding." He told them and Peter stopped.

"Do people actually explode?" He asked, eyes wide.

"I don't think they do. I haven't heard of that happening," Sirius said.

"Happened to one of my aunts. Or Great Aunts, I forget which. Anyhow, she exploded and after that she had a lot of trouble finding robes to fit her."James said and Sirius gave out a laugh.

"You almost had me there." He grinned and Peter looked between them.

"It's a joke." James informed him and Peter gave a nod of understanding and was about to help himself to more food when it disappeared and dessert came. This time it was the turn of Sirius and Peter to be surprised as all the food they had eaten had now caught up with them. They only managed a shared pudding between them while James managed two helpings and Remus had four. Sirius paled as he watched them continuing to consume food and Peter looked on longingly, although he was clutching his stomach.

"Good things come to those who wait." James smiled, watching Remus finish off the last of his chocolate torte. The boy was normally quiet but he had gone completely silent over the eating of his chocolate pudding. Not that anyone minded. The colour did seem to go back into his cheeks and eyes as he ate the chocolate with obvious focus, intent and enjoyment.

"Enjoy that, Remus?" Sirius asked as the bowl was finally left alone. Only a few other people were finishing eating and it looked like they would soon be heading off to their common rooms and dorms.

"It was very good. Its hard to make a good thing from chocolate, the result is often diluting the power and taste of the original product but they seem to have improved, managing to keep the flavour and the effect that chocolate gives to those who eat it." Remus said and the three boys stared at him.

"Are you a food critique?" James asked eventually and Remus gave a smile.

"No, just a chocolate one." He replied and Sirius laughed with delight before paling again.

"I've definitely eaten too much." He muttered and they all looked at him with concern, apart from Peter who looked like he was in more distress than Sirius.

"That's what you get for trying to have an eating competition." Came an unimpressed voice and they turned to look at the source who was the red-head girl.

"Evans, right?" James asked, looking at her and she gave the smallest of nods. "Well, just because its their fault doesn't mean that you need to pick on them for that."

"Pick on them? I'll tell you what is picking on someone, you having a go at Severus. And how you treated Sir Nicolas was barely even better."

"It's just a bit of fun," James shrugged, looking towards Sirius who jumped in.

"And no harm done to them. Peter and I are in actual _discomfort _now." With that, Evans turned back to them and James gave a shrug and was about to say something else but the Prefects were summoning them away to the common room. Getting up, the four kept as close together as possible, with Remus making sure that Peter was kept roughly center as they walked through the school. James and Sirius took especial delight in trying to worry the Prefects. Their best question had been 'what if the stairs move while we're walking and we fall forwards and off the edge' which had lead the older students to become worried as they didn't have an answer. James and furthered this question by asking 'what if we walk off because we aren't paying - ooh, is that a giraffe in that painting?'. By the end of it, the Prefects looked fairly shaken but they managed to inform them of the password which was Iphigenia. One of the prefects had to give up at this point and he sank into a chair by the fire and started muttering to himself.

"I must be mad to have taken up this role. Mad. Students to look after, first years who go blundering into trouble. Mad, I must be. Mad. My father's even a hatter."

"This way is the girl's dormitory and over here is the boy's." The other Prefect said, doing her best, despite being on her own. Still, she did a good job and in three quarters of an hour, Remus, Peter, Sirius and James had managed to get a dorm all together.

"This is going to be brilliant!" Sirius said, jumping onto the bed he claimed as his and lying upside down, at an angle - his body flopped over the edges and no longer remembering his uncomfortable stomach. Peter had chosen to busy himself with unpacking.

"Why are you doing that, it's late at night. We should be planning or sleeping. Not unpacking." James said, sitting up in his bed.

"I still feel really full, I need something to distract me." Peter said and Sirius looked ever so disappointing.

"I'm guessing the midnight feast I was planning is off for tonight?" He asked and Peter turned a light shade of green.

"Another night. We'll have plenty of time," James grinned, testing the bed to see how bouncy it was. "Good mattresses here." He commented.

"Nothing compared to what I have at home, but I prefer these." Sirius relied.

"What are your's like?" James asked, pausing in his testing of the bed.

"You fall into them and then sink. It literally swallows you up. It's not even funny." Sirius said, looking at James' face as he tried to hold in his laughter.

"It's like you mattresses eat you." James said, finally erupting into laughter causing the Prefect to come up.

"It's time for bed, be quiet. People need to sleep." He said, looking at the four before he noticed that James and Sirius were here. He paled and backed out quickly.

"We should make a game of seeing how many Prefects we can worry." James smiled and Sirius nodded, grinning.

"They'll be unable to stop us and then we've just got the teachers to worry about." Sirius said and James looked towards the other two, once again concerned that those who learnt of his and Sirius' hobby might tell the teachers.

"Huh?" Peter said, noticing the look and James simply smiled before looking towards Remus. He had been drawing the curtains closed but one window still stood with open curtains and the boy standing and looking out.

"You OK, Remus?" James asked, walking forwards to stand next to the boy, looking out the window. The grounds could be seen bathed in the light of an almost full moon. The lake looked like a pool of liquid silver when compared to the dark grey-green (almost black) grounds around it. The Forbidden Forest looked dark and foreboding as it stood silent and solemn yet in its element with the creeping darkness. There was no reply from Remus for a second before he turned away and closed the window.

"Just missing home," He replied, going to sit on his bed and at his words, a similar expression passed over both James and Peter. Sirius alone was left looking cheerful which quickly disappeared as he saw the sadness that had crept upon his friends faces.

"I shouldn't have mentioned it. Sorry." Remus said, softly as he opened his trunk and pulled out some Pajamas as well as a reading book.

"No, we have nothing to hide." Sirius said suddenly, surprising them all as he went to place a hand on Remus' shoulder before addressing all of them as he stood in the center of the room.

"We have nothing to hide because we can think of each other as our brothers. After all, we're sharing a dorm and classes, how much closer can you get? While here we can think of this very room as home, whether it is better or worse than the one you have at home. I already know that here I am with a family one thousand times better than the one that I have left behind. My relations are a pain."

"So if we're a family does that make you mother?" James asked, pulling on his pajama top. Remus had already managed to get changed without any of them noticing and he had pulled the blankets over him. Peter was getting changed as well and Sirius shrugged out of his robes.

"Nah, I'm father and I supply all the food and stuff." He replied, taking off his top and placing some night time bottoms on before getting into bed.

"Well, I hope you don't sleep walk, you're half naked." James laughed and Sirius looked affronted.

"I get very hot at night, so if you want to be woken up by me panting and having to get several glasses of water and splash some of that on my face, be my guest." He said and James shrugged while Peter curled up into a ball under his blankets.

"So, if you're father, who's mother and what are the rest of us?" James asked, placing his glasses on the side table.

"You can be my brother and thus an uncle to Peter. Remus can be mother." Sirius said after a moment's thought.

"I'm not being mother." Remus' sleepy voice spoke out leading to both James and Sirius to burst out into laughter, causing the Prefect to appear again and tell them to be quiet. The two boys stopped but then they started asking about how haunted Hogwarts was and whether people could be allergic to ghosts. As the Prefect once again fled, the two boys smirked and looked towards Remus who looked conked out and Peter who kept yawning.

"Time to sleep, I guess." Sirius said and James got up to blow out all the candles and heavy breathing started to fill the dorm. The breathing of four sleeping boys.

* * *

**Thank you to Made-in-Denmark and HungerGamesOwl for your reviews. I'm going to try and update every week but I'm back at College now so it might not be as frequent but I'll do my best.**

**Thank you for reading, please review/comment!**


	3. Education

**Chapter Three - Education**

Getting up in the morning had been harder than they expected. Both Sirius and Remus slept like logs and it turned out that each of them needed a different way of waking them up. About the fourth thing that James tried (while Peter watched) was pouring water over them. As he had leaned over Remus, the boy's eyes had suddenly flickered open and for a moment, James' hazel eyes had stared into Remus' green ones, before the formerly sleeping boy suddenly rolled out of bed in a flash, making sure he wouldn't get a dousing. Fortunately for his bed, James had managed to stop himself. The same luck could not be said for Sirius' bed as even the dousing of water had not woken up the sleeping boy.

"How did you wake up before I put water on you?" James asked the now dressed Remus as he looked down at the slumbering and soaked Sirius.

"I sleep light enough that I'm aware if something is going to bother me. A boggart once tried to take up residence in my bedroom and it was going to move into my wardrobe at night. Woke me up and then I woke up my parents." Remus replied, while Peter got out his quill and tickled Sirius under the nose.

"Are we sure he's not dead?" James asked, getting onto the bed and bouncing up and down next to Sirius who didn't even stir. Remus went to check his pulse. By chance, the blankets had been dislodged from Sirius by James' bouncing and as soon as Remus touched Sirius' arms the boy's eyes flickered then slowly opened.

"Why am I wet?" He asked, confused as he pushed the hair off his face, to which it had been clinging.

"I was trying to get you up, mate. You sleep like the dead." James said, getting off Sirius' bed. Peter moved forwards.

"I feel like I'm on my deathbed. You're all standing over me acting so serious."

"Well, it will be your deathbed if you don't get up soon. We're going to miss breakfast!" James said and Sirius sat up immediately.

"Miss breakfast?" Was the immeditate and somewhat loud response and in seconds the boy was moving around, flinging on clothes and towling off his hair.

"Tomorrow, do not try to wake me up with water. It doesn't work."

"So what do we do?" James said as they hurried out of the dorm.

"Blankets off and poke me, K?" Sirius replied, leapin down the last three steps and rushing through the common room, his uniform billowing out behind him as he quickly crossed the distance.

"Sounds good. Easier than trying to wake Remus up. Apparently he has to be in danger of getting wet." James Said, casting a glance back at Remus who was hurrying after them, just behind Peter.

"I'll get used to waking up at that time. Just give me a week or so." He replied, giving a yawn.

"I won't. Remember to wake me up. Which way was it?" Sirius replied, appearing incredibly awake for someone who had been deep in the arms of Mopheus only seven and a half minutes ago.

"Left, I think." James said and they turned left and hurried down the stairs. Amusingly for Sirius, the stairs started moving just as he had been about to step off and he just managed to keep on.

"Why on Earth do we need moving stairs? Did they not have enough money to put them all in?" James asked as they were moved from their original destination.

"No wonder why there isn't a map of Hogwarts." Sirius replied, hopping out as the stairs came to a halt and the other three boys followed him.

"We can go along these stairs and then take the outside route." Peter said, pointing out an alternative path and they hurried off again. As it turned out, Peter was really good at figuring out paths and even though the stairs changed, he managed to get them to their original destination. Hurrying through this corridor, they came to an unfamilar places and Sirius gave a growl.

"Great, Peter." He accused.

"Hey, it was James who said it was this way, I just found the way to get here." Peter protested. James looked shameful and they turned to go back along the path to find the stairs had moved and they were cut off.

"Even better." Sirius muttered and they hurried along the corridor, hopefully running parralel to the stairs. However, to their suprise they got to the Great Hall in good timing, having found a short cut and the four squeazed onto the bench and started to help themselves to the cooked breakfast, hungry after their excerusion. It was at this point that they were handed out their time table and they hurriedly read through it while eating, deciding it was best to leave early.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts first? That's great!" James exclaimed before shoving a large helping of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"Wonder what the teacher's like. We'll be his first ever class here, won't we?" Sirius said.

"Please be nice to him," Remus said, cutting up a rash of bacon.

"What would you expect of us?" Sirius asked, pretending to look horrified.

"I actually do want to do well at Defence Against the Dark Arts, we should try and be atleast pleasant for the first week or two." James suggested and Sirius sighed, looking disappointed.

"Very well, have it your way. We'll be nice to Professor McTaggart. I do want to be able to pass Defence Against... why is it so long to say. We should shorten it." Sirius said, frowning in thought.

"Dat da?" Peter asked, looking at the name of the subject.

"D. A. D. A.?" James said and Sirius gave his nod of approval to James.

"Right, well, I want to do well at D.A.D.A. as well. I've been thinking that it would be cool to be an Auror when I grow up."

"Don't you need good grades in most subjects?" Remus asked, finishing his breakfast.

"Yeah, well, D.A.D.A is more interesting." Sirius shrugged.

"I wonder what we'll be studying..." Peter said, nervously. "Hopefully it won't be anything scary."

"Scary like vampires, boggarts and werewolves, nah. I think they save those sorts of things for later on." Sirius said. "And in truth, those aren't even the scary things, people just like to make it seem that way. Vampires and werewolves are people and boggarts assume the shape of something that scares you. It isn't the actual thing."

"Very insightful and deep, Sirius." James said, putting his plate away.

"So, in answer, no, we won't be doing anything scary. It'll probably be something simple." Sirius replied and Peter looked relieved.

"Sirius, you're not trying to eat more than Peter?" Remus asked as Sirius reached towards more food after Peter had helped himself to a bit more.

"No..." Sirius said, withdrawing his hand and James laughed.

"You must have hollow legs if you usually eat this way."

"Are we going?" Peter asked, having quickly finished off his extra morsel and Sirius cast a longing look at the food.

"Someday I will beat you. I've never had someone manage to eat more than me before." Sirius muttered as Remus and James stood up.

"Right, we're heading off?" Sirius stood up and Peter followed. They managed to walk as far as the doors to the hall when they stopped

"Do we actually know where we have to go?" James asked and they all looked confounded as they stood there.

"Do you four need some help?" Came a familar, female voice and they turned around to look at the Gryffindor Prefect who was looking down at them.

"Yes, we would be very gracious if you could tell us the way to our first class, Defence Against the Dark Arts." Sirius said, his tone now polite as he spoke to the older student and a smile threatened to appear at her lips at his honeyed words but it disappeared.

"I'm taking a group there now." She said, looking around for a second. There was a group of Gryffindor students behind her but the four got the sense that she was waiting for something else.

"Are we leaving now? We don't want to be late on our first day?" Sirius asked, his eyes flickering over her face as if trying to read it.

"You're class is with the Slytherins. We're waiting for them." She told him and Sirius gave a frown, obviously not pleased with this knowledge.

"Great, we'll probably be stuck with old Snivellus," He muttered and Peter's face twitched in a faint smile as he heard the nickname he had created being used. James cast a glance at the Prefect who hadn't heard (her gaze on the approaching Slytherins) and Remus looked away. They did indeed have Severus in their group and Lily Evans moved over to walk with hm which did not please James or Sirius who seemed to think that she was fraternising with the enemy. But thankfully the fact that they were in a group meant that they got there on time - early in fact. It turned out that this group had left early and as such had missed the owl mail. The rest of the class arrived later and the teacher came only just in time.

"Hello!" He greeted cheerfully in a strong Scottish accent, opening the door and standing aside to let the not too enthusiastic students pile through. The students had piled in and chosen their own seating, James and Sirius sat at the very front, with Remus and Peter sat to their left.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all, I'm Professor McTaggart but feel free just to call me McTaggart," the teacher said, walking to the front of the classroom and taking a seat on the desk. Many of the students looked at each other at this action, unsure how to act.

"I'm here to teach you Defence Against the Dark Arts, now, would anyone like to hasten a guess as towards what that might be?" He looked enthusiastically across the students, none of which seemed keen to answer and they just stared at him.

"Come on, what do you fill your noggins with before you get here?" He asked, looking along the lines.

"Food, sir!" Sirius answered immediately and the teacher looked towards him, gesturing towards the student with his arm.

"There, that's what I like. An answer and fast. Although I would like to know how you put food in there, mine all goes to my stomach." He said, giving his stomach a pat and some of the students laughed.

"Well, five points to Gryffindor for enthusiasm." He said, cheerfully, getting off the table and walking over to the blackboard and writing Defence Against the Dark Arts on it with chalk and circling the word.

"Now, anyone want to answer my earlier question?" He asked, looking towards the group. Remus' hand shot up this time and a few others followed.

"Right, kid at the front, what's your name?"

Lupin, Sir, Remus Lupin."

"Right Remus, feel free to call me McTaggart. So, what do you think we'll learn in Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"About creatures that are considered a threat to wizard kind, Sir-McTaggart."

"Good answer, ten points to Gryffindor." McTaggart said, writing down on the board 'Potential threats from magical creatures' and drawing a line between the two groups of words he now had on the board.

"Please, McTaggart," Came another voice which caused Sirius and James to look at each other. They already recognised the voice of Severus.

"We learn how to defend ourselves from a whole manner of dark things, whether they are beasts or wizards." Snape said.

"Right, what's your name?"

"Severus Snape."

"Well, right you are, Severus. We can't forget that some of the most dangerous threats that you may have to face will be other wizards. Of course, that is rare in this day and age but the skill is still important, especially if you want to become an Auror. Ten points to Slytherin." With that, McTaggart added another leg to the spider diagram and wrote 'threats from other wizards'.

"Now, these two things are the main building blocks of Defence Against the Dark Arts but its best to know a general overview of everything. So, why don't we start with creatures and you can tell me what sort of creatures you think are covered within this class. And it's fine to say stuff that we won't cover this year."

"Boggarts!" Peter called out, remembering the name from their earlier conversation.

"Right you are!" McTaggart said, pointing at Peter. "Five points to Gryffindor!"

"Cornish Pixies!" A Slythering called and another five points were awarded.

"Dementors..." Came a more hesitant suggestion from a Slythering but again the five points were awarded although McTaggart said that they were not likely to need to deal with them. This way of learning continued, with McTaggart merrily writing correct answers on the board and dishing out points. It seemed that he was very generous went it came to points because by the end of this calling out session, Slytherin had gained 65 points and Gryffindor had 70. The points would have continued, if McTaggart hadn't moved on. Severus and Remus were both naming creatures, the words flying back and forth between them with James and Sirius occasionally throwing in their own suggestions. The class tried desperately to write everything down while McTaggart seemed to give up for the last part and simply to watch them with amusement.

"It seems that we have some enthusiasts in this class. I'm sure we won't be bored," He commented as he went back out to the front of the class room, standing once more.

"Now, as you have just started we have to go with the easier stuff, so most of the creatures we've just had suggested will not be included." At this there were 'aw's and muttered complaints and McTaggart held up his hands in surrender.

"I know, it's annoying but I'll do my best to make it interesting anyway. And I'll see what I can do about some of the more difficult things. But today we are going to look at defensive spells. In particular we're going to look at a useful spell that can be used on creatures and in dueling, it's knock by the rather plain name 'knockback jinx'." The class seemed to be losing interest quickly but McTaggart tended to it and Sirius shot James a grin. He had been worried that this teacher might be boring and send them to sleep but it was obvious this man was trying.

The teacher strode over to what looked like a covered cage and swooped the purple, velvet sheet off to reveal a trapped doxy. Peter edged away from the creature, looking horrified at it. Sirius and James however were leaning forward, curious to see what would happen next. Remus simply chose to remain neutral as he regarded the scene; pen poised over paper and ready to take notes.

"The incantation is flipendo," McTaggart started, giving a pause and quills scrapped across the paper. James and Sirius seemed to be the only ones not writing it down, still with a look of anticipation, too eager to watch the effects of the jinx.

"Watch carefully," MacTaggart instructed, taking a few steps back and taking out his wand. With a swift movement, he clearly said the spell and there was a loud bang, causing some students to jump with surprise. In a flash of blue light, the doxy had been sent flying to the edge of the cage where it lay, stunned and there were a few seconds of silence before McTaggart attracted their attention once more by dramatically covering the cage once more.

"That is what you are aiming for, whether against another student in a duel or against a pesky creature making its home where you don't want it. Yes James?" James' hand had shot up almost immediately as he started to talk and Sirius looked like he had been considering this course of action as well as his slightly raised arm relaxed.

"Did you just say that we could use this spell on other students?" James asked and there were some mutterings.

"Yes, I did. I have no doubt that at some point before you leave school, you all will have dueled, whether in lessons or a disagreement and I would personally prefer it if you are able to use well practiced and safe spells." He said with no hesitation and James shot Sirius a look, the second boy grinning. Remus caught this exchange and his gaze flickered between the two. He had only known them for about 24 hours but he suspected that they were planning something and quite possibly more willing to start duels than any other person in the class.

"Right, now as we don't want to risk any injured students, you get to practice on pots but first you have to learn the spell. Can anyone remember what the incantation was?"

"Flipendo!" Sirius shouted out and McTaggart gave a smile.

"Correct, ten points to Gryffindor. Now, who can show me the wand movement?" At this point everyone got out their wands trying and the teacher passed his gaze over all of them.

"I didn't expect anyone to remember it. The first two lines of desks come up and I will show you. Everyone else practice the incantation. Once the first two lines have returned to their seats, I want the next two and so on.

There were twelve students in total in the first group and they all hurried around the teacher, James managing to get a good spot and save some for Sirius. Peter tried to wiggle in but struggled to get past the other students who all wanted a good spot but seemed unable to contend with James and Sirius. Remus thoughtfully took a step back to allow the smaller boy to get closer to the front.

"Thanks, Remus." Peter whispered, gazing at the teacher with concentration. The shorter boy was worried that he was going to struggle, he couldn't remember the name of the charm. Flipendus? Flipenda? Flipendo? It was the words coming from the rest of the class that distracted Peter from his remembrance of the incantation, he wasn't the only one struggling to remember the correct ending and the fact that others were using it made it that much more difficult for the boy. Still, McTaggart showed them the movement and they went to sit down, having had the teacher also repeat the spell to each of them, slowly and carefully.

As Remus and Peter sat down, the chairs before them scrapped across the floor as Sirius and James turned to look at the other two.

"Thought we might share a desk this way. Four heads are better than two." James joked, running a hand through his hair and casting a glance around.

"Right, mate. Not that you feel like you've already mastered the spell." Sirius replied, giving a good natured shove towards his friend and Peter chuckled. Remus was intent on working on the spell, following the movements of the wand before pausing and muttering the charm. James paused and then perfectly performed the wand movement before clearly saying 'flipendo'.

"Looks like you're a natural," Remus smiled, still working carefully although his actions and pronunciation seemed to be as good as James'.

"I want to try it out." Sirius said, looking board as he gracefully carried out the action. "Wonder if we could try it on Snivelleus." He muttered, his gaze moving to the boy who was working with Lily, correcting her arm movement as she momentarily faltered.

"I thought you were trying to get on with the teacher," Remus replied calmly, watching as Peter carefully practiced the wand movements, improving on each attempt.

"How would knocking him back with the spell that we're learning cause any problems?" Sirius asked, his gaze still on Severus.

"Flipendo." The muttered voice was not Sirius who had spoken, James had taken action during Sirius' moment of indecision and Snape went flying back.

"Apparently we can try it on Snivellus." James said with a smirk, standing up with the rest of the class and hurrying over to look towards Severus, Remus followed close behind, with honest concern plastered on his face. Sirius and Peter also quickly followed. McTaggart had already managed to reach Severus and was checking him over.

"You'll be fine, no harm done." He said after a quick examination.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for attacking a fellow student. Don't think I won't notice, James." The teacher said, looking towards James who retaliated with a face of innocence and surprise.

"Me, sir?" He asked.

"Yes you, James. If it occurs again you'll have to serve detention. But you did perform the spell perfectly so," He paused, in thought for a second and the class stared at him, wondering what his next words would be.

"Five points to Gryffindor for the spell being performed perfectly. Anyone else feeling adventurous and want to try the spell on some pots. Not students." The second part he added as James, Sirius and Severus all seemed to become brighter and more determined at the idea of performing the spell. As it was, in no time, almost everyone had a pot that they were practicing on. Remus had got the spell in one go, Sirius actually took two because the first time he had been distracted by the fact that Peter's spell had left the pot steaming before it actually flew back. James took delight in pointing out that Peter's first attempt (although more steam filled) had managed to get the correct result while Sirius' one had only shaken the pot slightly. Sirius took this in good grace, though.

As for no students getting harmed, McTaggart made sure of that. He had a knack for noticing when the students seemed just about to do the spell and intervening just before hand.

"Sir, how do you keep doing it?" Sirius asked as he was lightly scolded for his attempt to hit Severus back after Severus had tried to make a move.

"Believe it or not, I was once your age. I know what it's like and what to look out for. It always pays to be aware when someone is going to try a spell on another, particularly when that person is you. Most learn that the hard way." He replied before walking away to help a struggling student.

"He barely looks older than the students in the last year," James commented, leaning on the back legs of his chair as he watched the figure move away.

"Wonder why he's here. I mean, I have nothing against young teachers but I thought they were all meant to be old and boring," Sirius added, holding the ends of his wand in each hand. The pots of the four boys had long since smashed several times and although McTaggart had repaired them, they had mainly grown board of the targets. Remus had kept going longer than Sirius and James, first working to make sure his was perfect and then helping Peter who was doing well. His pot had not started smoking in his last four attempts.

"Maybe they want to try being less discriminating. If you want a job as a teacher then it must look better if you can say you've taught before." Remus suggested, watching Peter carefully as the boy gave the pot another go in his boredom and McTaggart made sure that the whole class was on the same level.

"True, I never really did give much thought to how teachers were created." Sirius shrugged.

"Did you just think that they just grew overnight?" Remus asked, hand in his head in response to Sirius' words.

"I did! I thought that they hatched out of eggs when I was young," James said, with a grin on his face and Sirius chuckled.

"Not inspired by the belief that teachers are as ferocious as dragons?"

"It was indeed that very thought that had been planted in my young mind,"

"Ah, corrupting the innocent by trying to make us believe that the teachers will eat us for dinner."

"I never had anyone tell me that." Peter muttered, having successfully sent the pot flying back and shattering on the ground. McTaggart, still teaching, waved his hand and the pot returned to its original state.

"He's certainly able to keep track of everything. That's definitely good." James commented, watching the action with clear hazel eyes.

"Right, we have five minutes left and so I'm going to give everyone a challenge. Those who feel like trying the spell on me are welcome to." McTaggart said, interrupting the talk that had been going on between those who had already mastered the spell. It was shocked silence that greeted the Professor's words. Then, Sirius slowly raised up.

"I'll give it a go, McTaggart." He said, wand in hand.

"Brilliant, five points to Gryffindor for being the first to volunteer. Give it a go, Sirius." McTaggart was bright as he stood, waiting for the student to launch the attack. There was a pause and then suddenly, Sirius jumped into action.

"Flipendo!" He cried and much to his surprise, the spell seemed to have little effect, simply sending him back a few steps. McTaggart smiled and there was silence of the class, unsure what to do.

"I used protego. It's also known as the shield charm. In full strength it can send the spell back at the caster. It's a spell that is taught later on the years, but I believe it's always good to be aware that you should always be ready for the unexpected and the fact that others won't wait patiently to be attacked. Now it's time for lunch. Go, enjoy your food!" He said, shooing them off as many of the students had remained, watching as if they expected something afterwards. Lunch proved to be as good as dinner and the only other lesson they had that day was potions which was all theory.

"Well, I think D.A.D.A is going to be my favourite subject," Sirius decided as they headed back to the common room, full of food.

"It's a bit early to decide, isn't it?" Remus asked, looking around as he spoke. He had barely touched his dinner and he was looking fairly pale. During pudding, James had even stolen the whole chocolate cake and kept it near Remus to try and encourage their friend to eat some of the food. However, Remus didn't seem to be the only one off his food; Peter too seemed to not eat as much as last time (which meant Sirius won this compition) but still enough for a boy his age and so they hadn't been too concerned with that.

"What are you looking for?" Peter asked, noting Remus' gaze.

"I... don't feel too well. I'm thinking about going to the Hospital Wing." Remus muttered and James frowned.

"We don't mind if you're sick. We can look after you."

"Yeah, and it's probably nothing anyway." Sirius said, placing a hand on Remus' shoulder.

"I'd just feel better if I checked with the nurse. I think it's this way," Remus said, taking a step away from the group and towards another corridor.

"We'll come with you." Peter suggested but Remus gave a small shake of his head.

"Really, I think I've might have something quiet nasty. My mother had the flu just before I left, it might be the start of that."

"The flu, like Black Cat flu?" Sirius asked, looking a bit worried,

"No, just a regular flu. But probably best for you to just go on. I'll get there fine." Remus assured them.

"But if you're sick..." James started.

"I'll be fine. Besides, what about that potions homework? You probably should get back and start on that."

Eventually it was decided that they would walk Remus half of the way before doubling back and as the three headed to the common room, Peter told them about what he had heard about the Forbidden Forest.

"Apparently there are werewolves in the forest, that will eat you if you go in and that's why its forbidden. But they also say that there are many more mystical creatures, including unicorns. One of the Hufflepuff students said that they thought that the teachers of Hogwarts kept the forest at bay from swallowing up but a fourth year Ravenclaw said it was nonsense." He said as they walked up the stairs and into their dorm.

"We should really visit the forest at some point," Sirius said with a smirk.

"That would be interesting. I bet that half the things that people say about the forest is just rumours spread by teachers." James laughed while Peter looked concerned.

"The students did seem to think that the forest was dangerous. All of them." Peter told them and James shrugged, running a hand through his hair.

"Not my fault that they're gulliable."

"Wait until we know a few more spells and then give it a go?" Sirius asked.

"Sure, Sirius. Sounds like fun."

"No problem, mate. I figured we might want to be able to defend ourselves when we do go in. Just in case." Sirius smirked.

"And Pete, you and Reme are welcome to join us." James told Peter who seemed to pale slightly at this thought.

"Um... sure." He squeaked.

"It won't be scary, don't worry." Sirius grinned, getting ready for bed. "We'll do that potions essay when Remus is better. Or he'll need some help with it if this flu is going to last."

"Does anyone hear know much about normal flu?" James asked, looking at Peter who was already under his blankets and asleep.

"Wish I could get to sleep like that," James commented.

* * *

**Thank you to Made-in-Denmark for your review.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Please review/comment.**


	4. Battle of Two Houses

**Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I had a busy weekend of family reunions and homework during my free time so I couldn't work on this chapter. But I have finally finished it and I present it to you!**

* * *

**Chapter Four – Battle of two Houses**

"I can't believe that!" Peter exclaimed, watching what seemed to be thin air.

"Neither can I, it's pretty awesome." Sirius said, giving a whistle, also looking at the same spot as Peter.

"I know, I'm thinking that we should use it to find out how to pull pranks of school." The voice spoke from the spot that the two other boys were looking at and suddenly with a spin, James emerged, holding a cloak in his hands.

"What ideas have you got?" Sirius asked, while Peter looked slightly nervous, fidgeting with his sleeves.

"Well, I think that we could try to sneak into the Slytherin dorm and replace all the boys' clothes with pink dresses." James suggested.

"Why not add the girls while you're at it. They'd hate it as much, from what I can tell from my own relatives." Sirius muttered.

"Sounds like a plan,"

"But I think we should stick with just the first years, I'm not that rich and I don't want any of the older years trying to get back at us before we're ready."

"But where would you get the dresses?" Peter asked and James' face fell.

"I hadn't thought that far yet... my family might get suspicious if I ask them to send me about twenty dresses."

"Same here but I have my own bank vault, I could get the money directly from there and then I'd just have to find a place to get the dresses from." Sirius said.

"I can't believe we're actually thinking about this." Peter muttered, leaning back on his bed.

"Neither can I. It's brilliant." James replied, a smile plastered on his face.

"So, I'll order the dresses and you can find a way to pay me back?"

"Brilliant. I'll mail Mum asking for some money. Just make it something cheap otherwise she'll get suspicious."

"I'm not going to waste too much of my own money on this, anyway. Don't worry."

"Do I have to pay?" Peter asked, suddenly and Sirius looked thoughtful.

"If you and James pay me a third of the price, that would work out nicely. Can you get any money?"

"I don't know," Peter admitted before frowning. "What about Remus?"

"Well, we don't even know if he'll want to be a part of this." James shrugged.

"Besides, have you seen the state of his robes? They're really cheap, only just avoiding being second hand, I'd say. I don't want to take money from him if he's already struggling." Sirius added and James gave a small yet sad nod.

"I hope he gets better soon, so we can tell him about our plan."

"And get him to tell him about how boring the flying lesson was today!" Sirius added.

"It wasn't too boring." Peter put in and James rolled his eyes.

"We barely even got to go off the ground."

"You and Sirius flew a lap around the field. And you were several yards above the ground!"

"As I said, barely above the ground."

"The only interesting part was when the teacher tried to catch us," Sirius put in and Peter gave a sigh.

"Maybe we should see if Remus is better."

"What was it he said he thought he might have?"

"Flu?" Sirius asked, with a frown. "That can be quiet nasty, can't it?"

"He did say it was Muggle Flu, maybe that isn't as bad as some of the ones that we have. Anyone know anything about Muggle Flu?" There was a resounding chorus of 'no' and James gave a sigh.

"Let's just give him a day to get better. Tomorrow's Saturday so it isn't like we won't have all the time in the world. We probably should start on that potions homework." Turning to pick up his bag and place it on his bed.

"Ugh, I hate homework. Why can't we do anything interesting?" Sirius complained, flopping down onto the bed. "And if it had to be homework, I wish it was D.A.D.A instead of potions."

"We could try to learn that spell that McTaggart used to block… the one he used at the end?" Peter suggested, nervously. He had been worried by the idea that students could so easily attack the younger years that the idea of learning a defensive spell appealed to him.

"The Shield Charm…" James muttered, getting out the book for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Protego is the incantation," Sirius added, helpfully as James flicked through the pages.

"It's not in this book," James said, having managed to search through it very quickly.

"I wouldn't expect it to be. It's a more difficult one, shielding always is. But that would be worth learning. Especially if we might end up with some of the school wanting to get their own back at us," Sirius replied. "What was the wand movement?"

"He didn't use his wand. Or verbal magic." James said after a second of thought.

"Does this mean we'd have to ask the older years or even go to the library to find out?" Sirius asked with a sigh. He had pulled himself into a sitting position for the talk about the Shielding Charm but now he collapsed back into boredom.

"Would asking the older students be better? They have practice." Peter pointed out.

"But they might get suspicious." Sirius muttered.

"You suspect that everyone's out to get you!" Peter protested with a laugh.

"We need to keep secretive if we're going to rule this school!" James chuckled and Sirius shot him a glance. "I agree with you. The less people who know that we're prank inclined the better. So we'll have to do it the hard way. Who can remember how to get to the library?"

"Who can risk being seen in the library?" Sirius responded with a joke.

"What's wrong with being seen in the library?" Peter questioned.

"It'll spoil our reputation!" At this, James burst into laughter and Sirius shot him a glare.

"We don't have the reputation yet, Sirius! Besides, what better way to lull everyone into a false sense of security?"

"Good point. Let's go to the library. Which way was it?" James' rolled his eyes at Sirius' words and the other boy gave a laugh and Peter smiled. It seemed to be easier to understand these two boys now and he wasn't as scared as he had been when they had first met.

"We're seriously getting a map of this place." James said and Peter gave a nod.

"How long do you think it would take?" Sirius asked, looking thoughtful.

"Probably a while. I wonder if there are any secret passages. Wouldn't that be great?" James exclaimed.

"Yes, castles often have secret passages so occupants can get in and out during sieges. But they can't be easy to be seen otherwise attackers can sneak in. I was told that they were harder than difficult to find. In the more ancient times, princes and kings had court magicians to help them with escaping but the tradition faded." Peter said, looking ahead and obviously repeating something that he had learned by heart. James and Sirius just stared at him for a good few seconds before their faces lit up with delight.

"Secret passages?"

"Hard to find?"

"Brilliant"

"Even better than brilliant."

"Wizard made, this means actual work."

"And not the boring kind."

"Think the passages would lead to Hogsmeade?"

"Some must. It would be a good place to escape to."

"We could visit Honeydukes and get lots of sweets!"

"There has to be passages leading to other places. I wonder if there is one to the Forbidden Forest..."

"What is your obsession with the Forbidden Forest, Sirius?"

"Don't pretend you don't want to visit it!"

"I do, I just think you're obsessed."

"Because I said that I wanted to go in yesterday. Just once."

"I can see it on your face. You love that forest."

"Yes, mate, clearly I do. It's not simply because I want to see how much about the forest is lies."

"True. But I think we'll probably end up exploring the forest before we find any secret passages into it."

"Totally agree with you James. Don't put off what you can do today and all that sort."

"I thought that was meant to be homework." Peter said, finally cutting in between the two black haired.

"It may refer to homework but I prefer to use it when referring to fun and entertaining things. Really helps with getting under Mum's skin." Sirius grinned.

"Any news on how your family are taking your sorting?" James asked suddenly and Sirius' face became slightly darker.

"None. I think, if they know, which they probably do, they have no idea what to do. Probably sent my mother into shock or something like that." Sirius grinned and James' rolled his eyes.

"She can't be that bad!"

"She isn't all the time. I just get really tired of hearing our spout all that pureblood nonsense, no offense?"

"I don't agree with all the pureblood ideas, either. None of my family does." James replied with a shrug. He never really thought that much about his bloodline, other than to be grateful that he had a massive home and quiet a lot of money.

"Well, that's not all she shouts about. She keeps trying to tell me that muggles should be classified as creatures and loads of lies about centaurs and the likes. I've read books that disagree with her but I point it out, I just get sent to my room for hours. And my room could seriously use some redecorating. It's all green and silver and I'm thinking we could use a bit of gold and red in the house. Wonder if I could get anything from the common room and take it back home."

"Doesn't sound like too easy a life at your place. But I can always get you some nice Gryffindor themed wallpaper and stuff. I've got heaps of it.

"Thanks, mate. What about your life, Peter? You've been quiet.

"Well, it's just normal. I get on with my parents and they let me make some choices about my own room. They don't say anything bad about anyone, really." Peter replied, suddenly shy at having the lime light thrown upon him.

"Really? That must be nice. What about you, James?"

"My parents adore me. It gets a bit annoying at times. Sure I get everything that I want but to be able to do stuff for myself, y'know? Get the chance to show that I am capable and not just some pampered boy."

"Seems like we've got people from all walks of life, doesn't it?" Sirius smiled.

"Wonder what Remus' home life is like." Peter said softly.

"Probably similar to yours but with less money. Maybe like James with a lot less money." Sirius replied, calmly and matter of factly.

"You a good judge of people's lives?" James questioned and Sirius nodded vigorously.

"Well, shall we head off to the library? We can always ask for directions if we get lost." James continued.

"Might as well. It is worth it for learning the Shield Charm." Sirius said, getting up and opening the door. James quickly followed him and Peter got up reluctantly.

"Wonder if we can manage to work on wandless magic," James pondered.

"It would be epic if we could manage that, wouldn't it?" Sirius grinned while Peter looked between the two.

"Isn't that a bit above our level?" He eventually said with the other two just stood there, grinning and muttering 'flipendo'.

"I guess. It would be great to know how it works, though." James replied.

***  
Their trip to the library had not been too successful. They had managed to find a book that taught them how to cast the Shield Charm but none of them had managed it. To practice it out, they were trying the Knock-Back Jinx on each other and so far Sirius felt sure that there had been a slight delay before he had been hit with the spell. Out of all of them, the only one who seemed to have a noticeable effect was Peter. He managed to simply be shoved over instead of being knocked back. Either way, the boys ended up with quite a few bruises. It was a good thing that they had been practicing outside otherwise the library would be a mess.

"What's this?" Came a sneering voice as Sirius was thrown back. James turned, wand in hand to look at an older Slytherin student who was surrounded by other's in her year. Sirius dusted himself off and stood beside James, wand out. Peter moved behind his two friends, nervous, watery eyes looking around at the people.

"Do you have a problem that some of us are trying to learn?" Sirius asked calmly, looking at the older years as if he were on equal terms with them.

"Got some feist in you, Black?" Asked the female student and Sirius stared at them coldly.

"Yes. So kindly leave us alone,"

"Practicing the Shield Charm? That's not part of the first year course."

"I wasn't aware that there was anything wrong with furthering my education,"

"Planning something, aren't you? First Black to not be sorted into Slytherin and only days later trying to learn spells too complex for him."

"Leave him alone. His family has nothing to do with it." James spoke up.

"Yeah! We're just learning at a school. If you have a problem with that take it up with... with the..." At this point, Peter who had joined in trying to support his friends faltered into silence. The older students had shot him a glare and unlike Sirius or James, Peter lacked the confidence to finish.

"With the teachers." Sirius finished, his voice cold.

"We have nothing against learning. Just concerned about students things that they don't need to learn for another few years," The older student said, her voice peppered with false concern as her fellows nodded in agreement.

"As if. Push off." Sirius said and it appeared that the boy was working up a temper. Up till now he had been trying to remain fairly decent.

"And who's going to make me?" At this point the three Gryffindor students realised that as well as being out-skilled, they were outnumbered and the Slytherins had all drawn their wands. James let out a curse.

"Got that right, mate." Sirius muttered, hand gripped around his wand so that his knuckles were as white as snow. James was tense as well and Peter looked fearful although he too had his wand in hand and appeared ready to take action.

"Aw! Are the little Gryffindor's going to fight us?" Asked the girl, putting on a babyish voice. That was too much for Sirius and he didn't even speak a spell or use his wand. Instead, one of the cases of accidental magic flared up and the Slytherin reacted just in time to spare herself, managing to reflect the spell. James was not so lucky and was hit by the magic and sent sprawling onto the floor.

"Flipendo!" Peter shouted and he managed to perform the spell admirably before he was hit by a spell that caused his nose to start bleeding. Sirius had managed to knock over two of the Slytherin's as well as finally managing to pull of the Shield Charm to help him avoid one of the hexes. James was back on his feet. The magical blast that had been deflected towards him seemed to have left the boy with nothing worse than extremely messy hair. Peter was doing his best as well but he suffered the most. His confidence seemed to have been knocked back and his spells were not as effective as they had earlier been.

"What is going on?" Came a strict voice and the fighting immediately broke up as if some invisible force had seperated the two parties. McGonagall stood there in full glory, looking at them all over her spectacles.

"They started it! They were trying to tell us off for practicing a spell!"

"It was well above their level! They were planning something!

"Look what they did to Peter!"

"We were attacked first!"

"They provoked us!"

"Black fired a curse!"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor!"

All this was said in rapid fire and overlapping and the eyes of the teacher moved over the students before settling on Peter who still had a bleeding nose and looked to be the worse for wear.

"Pettigrew, go to Madam Pompfrey. Everyone else, with me. To my office."

"What happened then?" Remus asked. He had been in the hospital wing when Peter had arrived and the two had left together. Madam Pompfrey had wanted to keep Remus in for a bit longer but he had protested against it. Peter tried to convince Remus that he should say but the other boy had said that he felt fine and that he should really get to work on his homework.

"Sirius kind of lost it and fired a spell towards the Slytherins but it hit James,"

"Is he alright?"

"He was up again in seconds. His hair just looked messier,"

"And you were the only one hurt?"

"Seems so. McGonagall broke it all up,"

"I hope they aren't going to be in trouble,"

"We didn't start it. They can't punish us for that. Can they?"

"Not that I'm aware. Besides, it's only been a few days here, they can't expect us to be starting fights." Remus replied.

"I guess so. I hope they get back soon, though."

"Probably just sorting out a few of the finer details. What was that spell you said you were practicing?"

"Protego."

"The Shield Charm?"

"Yes. I think I was doing OK at it."

"That's really good, Peter. It's a spell that's way above our level. I can't believe that you all managed it!"

"I didn't. I got it sort of working in practice. James and Sirius were doing it excellently in the fight,"

"That doesn't mean that your work was any less amazing. I don't think anyone else in our year or even the year above can perform that spell."

It was at this moment that Sirius and James returned, their faces solemn as they entered although they looked surprised to see Remus but quickly hid it.

"What happened? What did McGonagall say?" Peter asked, his voice hurried and worried.

"She told us off for fighting," James started.

"And gave us a month of detentions," Sirius continued.

"And told us that if we ever do it again,"

"We'll get expelled."

"What?" Both Peter and Remus exclaimed and at this, the other two boys burst out laughing, no longer able to hold back the smiles that plastered themselves across their faces.

"We really got you there, didn't we!" James said, laughing on the floor.

"I don't understand…" Remus said, his words slow and unsure.

"It was a joke. Nice to see that you're well again, mate." Sirius said, being the first to be able to control his laughter while James continued to roll around on the floor in his merriment.

"So we're not being punished?" Peter asked.

"No, McGonagall let us off. You being the only injured person meant that we looked more like the victims."

"And the fact that they were older than us and outnumbered us. Slytherin has lost ten points each. Although we didn't gain anything for being brave and managing to last against their attack." James said, sitting on his bed and no longer in a fit of giggles.

"Only other casualty that we seem to have is James' hair," Sirius said, casting a glance towards the other boy. "You don't mind, do you mate?"

"Not your fault, besides, I like my hair like this." James said, proudly running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Think it might last a bit longer than just your generation though." Sirius replied but James simply perked up.

"Brilliant! My children shall all have my awesome magically messy hair!"

"How do you know that it will carry one to any of James' descendants?" Remus questioned.

"I was actually thinking of a spell that I read about when I accidentally sparked off. I was planning on trying it out with my wand and the actual incantation." Sirius shrugged.

"Mess up a girl's hair in defence?" James asked, grinning at that idea.

"I saw one of my cousins' threatening to use it on his sister. It seemed to be fairly effective as she shut up."

"Girls are weird."

"They're just different. I'm sure not all of them would mind that spell." Remus replied.

"I would mind," Sirius responded almost immediately.

"Well, you're hair's long enough to be a girl's!" James said with a good natured laugh. It was true that Sirius' hair was longer than the other three boys.

"Think I should get it cut? I've heard that they do have barbers in Hogwarts and I'd love to see the expression on my mother's face if I get it cut really short." Sirius smirked.

"I don't think you should try to antagonise your mother," Remus said.

"You haven't met her,"

"When's dinner?" Peter suddenly asked, looking hopefully at the other boys and the topic moved away from Sirius' hair and mother and to the topic of food. It seemed that Remus was also quiet hungry so they left early for dinner. But while they ate, James and Sirius spoke in hushed voices about their plans to prank the Slytherins (which had only been further fueled by their earlier fight).

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**Thank you for reading,**

**Please Review/Comment!**

**Mischief Managed.**


	5. Pink and Green

**And here we have Chapter Five. I might just end up updating on Sundays instead of Fridays. **

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**Chapter Five**

"That won't work,"

"Why won't it work, Remus?"

"Haven't you read Hogwart's A History?"

"Remus, do you think that Sirius would actually read a book?"

"Hey, James!"

"So why won't it work?" Peter said hurriedly before the two dark haired boys could get into an arguement.

"Well, it would work for the guys but you can't go into the girl's dorm-"

"Why not?" James questioned, quickly.

"That prefect does it all the time with us," Sirius now jumped in.

"She's really annoying," At James' words, Remus sighed.

"It's part of us being gentlemen!"

"But we're not!" James protested

"It doesn't meant that the stairs won't turn into a slide when you try to go up them." Remus replied.

"Why don't we use brooms?" Sirius asked.

"That would work, wouldn't it, Remus?" James perked up.

"I think the founders of Hogwarts would have put up spells that would be able to keep our first years on brooms."

"We could just pull the prank on the male first and second years." Peter suggested, picking up one of the pink dresses that Sirius had ordered. The reason for the whole discussion was because the secret order of dresses had arrived and confused Remus (who they had forgotten to tell about their plan).

"I guess," Sirius sighed.

"Well, let's get on with it tonight, then." James said, happy that they had now sorted out their problem.

"I don't think you should be sneaking into the Slytherin dorms to give them all pink dresses, you know." Remus told them and the three boys all just grinned back at him.

"But it's brilliant! Besides, you haven't forgotten about what they did to us, have you!" Sirius protested.

"I haven't. Have you forgotten that they got punished for it. By McGonagall."

"But they were very mean. They won't stop, even with punishment from the teachers." Peter spoke up and Remus looked at him.

"You aren't even going to be getting back at the ones who did attack you!"

"No, but we'll be getting back at their House," James started.

"And there House matters to them," Sirius continued

"So it will, in a way,"

"Be getting back at those who started it."

"You just want to annoy them." Remus said with a sigh and looking at all of them.

"Yes!" James and Sirius both said, gleefully and Peter chimmed in with the same word a second after them. Throwing his hands into the air, Remus wore the look of a boy who had given up in good humour.

"Fine, I give up. I had hoped that we could be reasonable but it seems we can't." With that he leaned back and fell into his bed and the three all crept closer to look over the form of their collapsed comrade.

"Remus?" James asked, poking the boy who had an arm over his eyes and was trying to hold back his amused grin.

"Don't you want to know about how we're going to sneak into their dorm?" Sirius asked, moving to sit next to the brown haired boy.

"It is very exciting. Totally a new way to sneak into the dorms of other houses." Peter added, casting a glance towards James.

"What I want to know is why and how you planned this without telling me." Remus said, a smile breaking out across his face. James had continued to poke Remus and Sirius had been leaning over the boy's face.

"We started planning when you were sick. And after that we weren't too sure if you wanted to be involved." Peter told Remus, the blond haired boy being the only one to not have been trying to get Remus to respond.

"Makes sense, I guess." Remus said getting up just as Sirius looked like he was contemplating pinning Remus down.

"So you don't actually want to be involved?" Sirius asked, questioningly, looking put out.

"I don't want to get in trouble," Remus calmly replied.

"But where's the fun in life if you don't take a few risks?" James stopped poking Remus and looked at him over his glasses.

"Yeah! Risks are brilliant!" Sirius added, sounding enthusiastic.

"Look, do you think all four of us would be able to sneak into the Slytherin dorms, steal their clothes, replace them with dresses, all without getting caught?" Remus questioned.

"Yes. I've got an invisibility cloak." James announced proudly, getting up and pulling the cloak out with a flurish. Remus stared at it for a good few seconds and Sirius grinned.

"That's ten knuts to me. I told you the cloak would interest Remus." Sirius told James.

"An Invisibility cloak, where did you get that?" Remus asked, getting off his bed and walking closer to touch the fabric.

"The inner professor in our dear roommate," Sirius grinned and James rolled his eyes.

"It belongs to my Dad. Managed to convince him to let me borrow it for school." James announced proudly.

"And by that, do you mean steal?" Sirius questioned, giving a warm laugh which Peter joined in.

"I assure you that my father very nearly agreed with my request!" James replied, spinning around now that Remus had stopped investigating the cloak.

"You... stole it?" Remus asked, eyes wide but James merely shrugged, an action missed due to the fact that he was wearing the cloak.

"If he minded he would have sent a letter or even a howler. But there's been nothing of the sort. So what do you say? Up for a night stroll under an invisibility cloak and making sure we don't all get caught while carrying out our master plan?" James asked, offering Remus a hand. The boy looked at it for a few seconds, regarding the situation.

"This won't interfere with my studies?"

"Remus, we don't have any exams. For years. Of couse it won't interfere with your studies!" Sirius said, exasperated.

"And we won't be up too late?"

"We'll try not to be. And we can do it on a Friday night if you're that worried." James promised. Remus took his hand.

"You know, it's weird shaking hands with a floating arm." Remus grinned and James took off his cloak and carefully put it away.

"Bet it's brilliant thought." He beamed and Sirius got off Remus' bed to stand besides the messy haired boy.

"Why are you... including me in this? Remus asked after a second had passed.

"You're our dormmate," Sirius said at once.

"And friend," Peter added.

"Yeah, and that. It wouldn't be nice to leave you out. Besides, I'm sure you would have figured it out anyway." Sirius replied.

"But what if I had gone and told a teacher?" Remus asked but the boys didn't look too bothered.

"You wouldn't," James replied, taking a seat on his own bed.

"We trust you to love us so much that you could never betray us." Sirius added with a crooked grin.

"See, everythings going to be awesome." Peter looked delighted at all of this and Remus gave a smile, evidentally pleased to be included without a question.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Remus muttered as the four boys snuck through the castle, under the cloak. It was large but it was difficult to keep over the four boys and almost all of them were crouching down. Peter was the only one who could stand up right. The lack of space was made more apparent by the fact that each boy was trying to hold four dresses.

"Relax, Remus. It'll be fun. They won't be able to catch us." Sirius grinned.

"Quiet you two or they'll hear us!" James hissed and silence fell upon the boys who were silently stalking a group of Slytherin's who were hopefully heading back to their dorms. They had chosen a group who looked like first years as they suspected these ones would be more inclined to obey the rules. They journey passed without a problem, even though at one point peter stumbled and the sound caused the Slytherins to look around them with evident concern. Eventually they came to the dungeons and Sirius placed a hand on Peter's shoulder to halt the boy. The Slytherins stopped just before them.

"Callidus," One of the girls said and before Remus or Peter could protest, James and Sirius had hurried them into the Slytherin Common Room. Remus felt a surge of guilt as he entered the room, they shouldn't be here, it was against the school rules and yet they had snuck in. The trembling form of Peter wasn't helping to give Remus any sense of courage as the four boys huddled together, moving into a corner to wait until they could continue with their 'mischief' as Sirius had affectionately called it.

"I think we can talk here, just quietly." James whispered, glancing around at the talking Slytherins, they didn't notice the extra voice. Most of the students in the Common Room were older and spoke loudly and with confidence. There were a few nervous first years scattered around as well.

"Wonder if Snivellus is in his dorm yet?" Sirius asked, his eyes scanning over his potential victims.

"I think I saw him talking to Lily. I don't get how they can be friendly, considering the fact that they are in different houses." James replied, his voice still soft to avoid attracting attention.

"Don't even see why she would want to talk to him. His hair's dreadful. All that grease." Sirius said, wrinkling his nose.

"And such a long nose, you'd think he's an elephant." Peter contributed.

"His hair's definitely the worst." James contributed, going to ruffle his hair but realising he couldn't do that without revealing some part of their body as the action would move the invisibility cloak.

"Let's not complain about Snape's hair. Makes you sound like a couple of… never mind." Remus said, looking nervously about him as if he expected someone to jump up and point out the hiding Gryffindors at any moment.

"Hey, I'm not a girl!" Sirius protested, although there was good humour in his voice.

"You've certainly got the hair and attention to detail for it!" James replied with a smirk.

"I'll have you know that my long hair is a sign of status." Sirius replied, puffing out his chest slightly and looking like he was going to burst into laughter. Remus again looked worriedly about them.

"Meaning that you want it cut but your Mum would kill you if you did?" James asked and Sirius gave a nod.

"Although kill might be an overstatement. I reckon she'd find some hair lengthening potion and pour it all over my hair till it's so long that I'd tread on it." Sirius replied and James' eyes lit up with amusement.

"Don't you dare cut my hair, James Potter." Sirius replied with a good natured grin.

"No, I was wondering about that hair lengthening potion," James said, his voice dropping even lower and the boy moved slightly so he could whisper to Sirius, leaving Remus and Peter feeling slightly awkward but on guard.

"Wonder what they're talking about," Peter said, sounding disappointed that he was not included in whatever plan the two purebloods were cooking up.

"Probably some more mischief or something like that. It's not the best sort of thing to get mixed up in, Peter," Remus warned, noticing that the smaller boy looked a little crestfallen.

"But you're here now," Peter said softly and Remus looked ahead for a few seconds.

"Yes, I guess I am. Funny, that isn't it?" Peter frowned, not really seeing the humour in it.

"I don't get it. If you don't want to be mixed up in this, then why are you here?" He asked.

"I ask myself the same question, Pete." Was the only response he got and Remus placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, still looking out of the cloak and into the Common Room. The number of students was starting to decrease and Remus felt like he was getting tired. He suspected that time was moving on and soon it would by their turn to be active. It was definitely a good thing that he would be able to sleep in tomorrow.

"You want to be included, don't you?" Peter asked after a few moments of silence apart from the hushed voices of James and Sirius. They were still talking about potions but it now seemed to be about growth potions as far as Remus could tell.

"It is nice to be involved with what your dorm mates are doing," Remus admitted, aware that Peter felt the same way. Casting a glance towards the boy, Remus wondered if Peter was here for the same reason as Remus; to keep close to their dorm mates who already seemed attached at the hips.

"But they're not dorm mates are they?" Peter asked, casting a glance towards Sirius and James. "They're our friends."

"Hey, do you think it's time to start giving the Slytherins dresses?" James asked, breaking up any further conversation.

"Looks like most of the first years and second years have headed up but we can't tell if they're all asleep yet." Remus replied.

"Ugh! Why didn't we come here later?" Sirius asked, annoyance flavouring his voice.

"In case we ended up trying to get here too late and missing any groups we can sneak in with." James reminded him and Sirius grumbled.

"Give it five minutes and then we can check." Remus said as Sirius' words had been a bit loud and he could have sworn that a head moved in their direction when the black haired boy had complained.

"Fine." Sirius said, sounding frustrated but it seemed their caution paid off for in just over two minutes a group of second years came through and hurried off to their dorm. Some of the older students were beginning to nod off over their homework.

"Now." James said after about seven minutes (an extra two minutes had been added on for caution).

The four of them started towards the boy's dormitry, struggling slightly with keeping in time and having to go slowly on the stairs.

"Better hope that no one comes down these stairs," Sirius muttered, it was a squeaze to get them all through the narrow passage.

"That would be dreadful." James said, sounding a bit squashed as the boys pulled their way through the staircase.

"We're nearly there." Peter replied, looking ahead. They finally escaped from the confinements and it would have been rather fitting if a small pop had sounded as they all exploaded from the tight staircase but fortunately for them, they emerged in silence.

"Right, which way to the first year dorms?" Sirius asked, looking at the different doors.

"How am I supposed to know?" James questioned, walking to inspect the doors and forcing the others to follow them. One door opened, just next to them and they all froze.

"What is it?" Someone said from inside the door and a student who looked like he was in the fourth year looked around.

"Thought I heard some unfamilar voices..." He muttered.

"Give it a rest. You always think you can hear someone prowling around. Honestly, who's going to be able to get into our dorm?" At this, Sirius and James grinned while Peter and Remus looked nervous. Peter even turned a little green. The student looked around for a few for more seconds and then went inside.

"Ok, let's be more quiet," James whispered and they moved on tip toes along the doors, trying to find out which year were in which rooms.

"We should have thought about this." Sirius muttered. Half an hour had passed since they had come up here and they hadn't made much progession other than figuring out which room belonged to the fourth and probably sixth years. Remus looked like he was falling asleep and Peter wasn't much better.

"Surely it would be in numerical order. Like ours." Remus muttered, eyes closed as the boys hudled in a corner, still trying to figure out who belonged where. There was silence.

"That's brilliant, Remus!" James exclaimed, or he would have.

"Silencio!" Sirius had cast as James' had started speaking in a loud voice. Three doors opened to look around and the boys had to press themselves against the corner to avoid being detected by the searching students.

"Remember to keep you're voice down." Sirius whipsered to James who rolled his eyes before pointing to his mouth.

"Finite Incantatem." Remus muttered, pointing his wand at James. Over the past few days, Sirius and Remus had been studying through the books while James schemed and Peter had moved between the two groups. It seemed that the studying the two boys had been doing was learning new spells.

"When did you learn the Silencing Charm?" James questioned, looking accusingly at Sirius.

"Remus kept trying to tell me to revise for lessons."

"Then why does Remus know Finite Incantatem?"

"Well, I started using it on other students. I'll teach you at some point. Plus, I think Remus' plan is to be able to perform it non-verbally so he doesn't have to wait for me to undo it."

"If it got too much, I'd just go to the teachers. Non-verbal magic is way too complicated for first years." Remus replied.

"Yeah but we're not any ordinary first years. We're going to be the Vikings in the Monastery, the Pirates on the treasure ship, the marauders in the castle." Sirius responded, proudly. "So we can learn anything no matter what our age."

"We're Vikings attacking a Monastery?" James asked, amusement in his voice.

"Or pirates." Sirius shrugged.

"So, should we get on with our marauding?" A round of nods answered James' question and they crept to the room that they thought were first years. Pressing an ear against it, James had a look of concentration on his face before he inclined his head slightly and moved away allowing Sirius to open the door. There was no response from the sleeping forms inside the room and they crept in, closing the door.

"Sirius, did you work on the disillusionment charm as well as the silencing one?" James whispered as he started placing the dresses on the ends of the beds.

"Of course." Sirius said with a smirk, slipping out of the cloak and prowling towards the wardrobes and speaking the incantation and making the clothes look mostly invisible. You could just see the outline.

"I still think we should have set fire to the clothes." Sirius replied, getting back under the cloak. He cast a glance back at the clothes, appearing to be disapproving of the fact that they were still there.

"It's not like they can wear them like that," James replied. They had tested the spell and if worn, the clothes remained practically invisible but didn't hide the body beneath them.

"They'll have to wear the dresses or skip dinner."

"Unless the older years lend them clothes." Sirius said, looking annoyed as he realised this.

"No plan can be perfect." Remus replied.

"Besides, the older years probably have clothes that are way to big for them." James replied as they snuck out of the first year dorm and into the second year, repeating this with no problem. They managed to get back to their own dorms with little problem as well. The Fat Lady had been confused by the silent muttered password but had let them back in anyway. Once they reached the stairs, they took the cloak off. No pictures could see them emerging and thus they couldn't be connected to the mysterious disillusionment of the Slytherins' clothes and the apperances of dresses.

"Well, that went brilliantly, I think." James declared happily as they got ready for bed. Again, Remus had gotten into his nightwear and blankets in record time.

"Just wait until we get into full swing!" Sirius laughed, again taking his shirt off and not putting anything else on. No one questioned this.

"The school won't know what's hit it," James agreed with a smirk before looking at his watch.

"Blimey, it's midnight. How about we have that midnight feast that I spoke about on our first night?" He asked.

"So you actually do have food on you?" Peter asked, perking up as he pulled on his pjama bottoms.

"Of couse. Brought a whole load of sweets. Add that to the whole load that my parents gave me to share and boom, we have a feast." James smirked, bringing out twenty chocolate frogs, thirty boxes of Bertie Box Every Flavoured Beans, fiften pepermint toads, five liquorice wands and a blood flavoured lollipop.

"Why do you have one of those?" Sirius asked with mock concern, nodding with his head towards the red lollopop. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Guys... I'm a vampire!" James said with a laugh and the rest of the boys joined in.

"Honestly, why do you have one, though?" Sirius asked as the laughter died down.

"I thought it might be amusing to tell someone it's strawberry and then to watch their reaction." James replied, putting it away and tossing Remus a Chocolate Frog,

"You like these, don't you?" He asked as Remus caught it, looking slightly surprised.

"Yes, thank you." Remus said, having caught the frog. "Are you sure you want me to have it?" He asked, sounding nervous.

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have given it to you." James said, now tossing a frog and Peter who eagerly caught it and was tearing into it.

"I think I'll go for the beans mate. Want to see if I can avoid getting anoy boggie ones," Sirius grined, catching the sweets that were tossed in his direction and James picked up a liquorice wand for himself.

"Good luck with that. I wish you all the best." He grinned, taking a bite into the liquorice. Remus slowly opened his chocolate frog and Peter was already devouring his. It was then that the door opened and the female prefect walked in, looking tired. Behind her could be seen the nervous form of the male perfect.

"It's night time. Stop keeping the other dorms awake!" She told them, looking around at the sweets. "And midnight feasts are not allowed."

"What do you mean?" Asked Sirius, who had pulled his blanket up in order to hide his bare torso.

"Hogwarts does not encourae staying up late and eating sweets." She said, walking in.

"Well, you can't confiscate these. I don't remember that being a rule and these are from my parents." James said, packing away his sweets calmly and shooting the perfect a cool glance.

"Do you want me to get Professor McGonagall to take them from you and cause a scene?" She asked.

"Like that would worry us," James shrugged.

"What is it that you want, then? A frog?" Sirius asked, looking at her with an intense stormy gaze.

"You think I can be brought?" She asked.

"A frog and two boxes of Bertie's?" James asked and the prefect paused, looking at the sweets that were now in James' hands. The ones that he had offered to give her.

"Done," She said and James handed them over with a smirk on his face.

"I can't believe that you managed to buy off the prefect like that." Remus said from his bed and Sirius gave a small laugh.

"Everyone has something that will mean they'll overlook the whatever you want them to,"

"It's not good to think like that," Remus said and Peter gave a nod.

"It's fine. It's just school and the prefects. It's not good for them to think that they can take away our sweets. Besides, I think she was trying to get them for herself." James said with a shrug, digging into his liquorice wand that was quickly disappearing. "Tell you what, I can't wait to see the Slytherins tomorrow."

WIth a general agreement, the boys finished their small helpings to the large pile which James then packed away and they soon fell into the realms of sleep.

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**Thanks to Made-in-Denmark for your review.**

**Mischief Managed.**


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